In 2018, Nickel City Chef will offer Western New York a 10th season
of its hit culinary competition series!

Described by many as Buffalo’s own version of Iron Chef, this live cooking challenge pits professional chefs from local restaurants against one another in the stunning kitchens located at Artisan Kitchens & Baths. Each chef must use a locally sourced secret ingredient to create unforgettable concoctions in under an hour. Nickel City Chef has always sought to combine the entertainment value of food television with a distinct passion for all things local, with the end result being an experience as exciting as it is educational.

There’s a fine line between food lovers and food nerds. Food lovers are concerned with the end result, while food nerds obsess over every step of how a dish is made, from the sourcing of ingredients to its preparation and plating. If there was any doubt that Buffalo has always been home to an intense and appreciative group of food nerds, the success of the Nickel City Chef series provides incontrovertible proof.

Several exciting announcements and surprises are in store for 2018 audiences; we hope you will join us!

Dates for the 2018 season of Nickel City Chef are as follows:

Sunday, February 18th

Sunday, March 11th

Sunday, March 25th

Sunday, April 8thIndividual tickets to 2018 shows go on sale January 5th at noon.

2016 will mark the eighth season of Nickel City Chef, the Buffalo/Niagara region’s premiere cooking competition.

Described by many as Buffalo’s own version of Iron Chef, Nickel City Chef is as much about Western New York as it is about cooking and entertainment. We are privileged to live in an area with a rich history enhanced by hearty ethnic foods, a wildly varied agricultural bounty, and one of America’s greatest contributions to casual cuisine—the chicken wing.

Described by many as Buffalo’s own version of Iron Chef,Nickel City Chef is as much about Western New York as it is about cooking and entertainment. We are privileged to live in an area with a rich history enhanced by hearty ethnic foods and one of America’s greatest contributions to casual cuisine—the chicken wing.

While these edible icons are as important to Buffalo as professional sports teams and world-class architecture, in culinary terms, they are not all that we have to offer. Nickel City Chef is designed to expose our area’s talented chefs, providing them with an arena in which to showcase dishes that may be too daring or complicated to warrant a permanent position on a restaurant’s dinner menu.

This year, Feed Your Soul Productions has teamed up with Buffalo’s Highwatermark Films to again produce shortvideo segments detailing the day’s competition.Battle Milk, featuring whole white milk and whole chocolate milk from Hoover Dairy in Sanborn, NY, took place on March 22, 2015. Nickel City Chef Adam Goetz of Craving Restaurant and his sous chef, Patrick Chmura, took on Challenger Bryan Mecozzi of Black Iron Bystro, and his sous chef Steven Ceccarelli.

The show was held at Artisan Kitchens & Baths in Buffalo, NY and hosted by Bert Gambini, chef Mike Andrzjewski (Seabar, Tappo, Cantina Loco, and Bourbon & Butter), and special guest, chef James Roberts, CEC of Toutant.

Nickel City Chef, a Feed Your Soul production, is an exciting and popular cooking competition, but it is so much more than that too.

Nickel City Chef offered up the third competition on this year’s schedule at Artisan Kitchens and Baths, 200 Amherst St. Buffalo, NY 14207 on March 24th with a battle featuring De Maas Amber Ale from Community Beer Works. CBW is Buffalo’s only nanobrewery and in less than a year of competition has garnered national awards and recognition. Most recently they took second place in a well-regarded national IPA challenge, a feat previously unheard of for a brewery so small.

Challenging Chef Carmelo Raimondi of Carmelo’s in Lewiston, took on Nickel City Chef Brian Mietus, owner and executive chef of downtown’s well-appointed Bacchus. Judges for the day included Ivy Knight, Toronto food writer and Editor-in-Chief of the lauded Swallow, Chef James Roberts of Park Country Club (winner of Nickel City Chef’s 2011 Battle: Beer), and Chef Chris Dorsaneo of Lloyd, a winner from 2012’s Nickel City Chef series.

As always, the show took place at the stunning interactive showroom of Artisan Kitchens & Baths where the chefs are able to work on Viking and Jenn-Air appliances. Nickel City chef is hosted by Bert Gambini and Chef Mike Andrzejewski. Photography by Wabi Sabi Foto. Video by Brian Mihok.

Next on the roster is the 24th installment of the show, which takes place on April 14th and features Nickel City Chef Adam Goetz versus Chef Edward Forster of Mike A’s in the Hotel Lafayette.

Nickel City Chef’s fifth season sold out in less than a day. Feed Your Soul, the production company behind the series, seeks to showcase the culinary talent, in the field and the kitchen, that exists here in WNY.

“Nickel City Chef: Buffalo’s Finest Chefs & Ingredients” features over 32 recipes, farm profiles, chef bios, and competition insights from the hit show’s first three seasons. Plus each book holds a DVD featuring video from a selection of challenges and the film “Food for Change.”

Nickel City Chef, a Feed Your Soul production, is an exciting and popular cooking competition, but it is so much more than that, too. You can read more about its mission here.

Nickel City Chef kicked off its fifth season on February 24th with a battle featuring Arden Farm‘s kale as a secret ingredient. Arden Farm is an organic farm located in East Aurora and operated by the great grandson of Elbert Hubbard, founder of the Roycroft.

Challenging Chef Michael Obarka of Ristorante Lombardo took on Nickel City Chef JJ Richert of Torches. The two are longtime friends who cut their teeth together at Westwood Country Club. Judges for the day included Janice Okun, the former restaurant critic and food editor of the Buffalo News, Nelson Starr, a Buffalo Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, and Chef Mark Mistriner, CEC, founder and Division Chair of the new Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.

Next on the roster is the 22nd installment of the show which takes place on March 10th and features Nickel City Chef Jennifer Boye of the Mansion versus Chef Teddy Bryant of Lloyd Taco Trucks.

Nickel City Chef’s fifth season sold out in less than a day. Feed Your Soul, the production company behind the series, seeks to showcase the culinary talent, in the field and the kitchen, that exists here in WNY.
This season is sponsored by Niagara Falls Culinary Institute, Wegmans, Cutco, Artisan Kitchens & Baths, Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, D’Avolio, Healthy Options from Independent Health Foundation, Mansion on Delaware Avenue, You & Who, and fine appliance companies, Viking, Fisher & Paykel, DCS, and Sub Zero/Wolf.

Press and camera crews are encouraged to attend.Â Please use the contact information above if you have any questions or are in need of hi-resolution photographs.

More information about Nickel City Chef is noted below the biographies of this week’s participants.Â A full Season Four, 2012 schedule and video from past seasons can be found online at www.NickelCityChef.com

Nickel City Chef, Sunday February 19th

This Week’s Chefs were:

Nickel City Chef Krista Van Wagner
Chef/Owner, Curly’s–Buffalo, NY
Nickel City Chef Krista Van Wagner is a graduate CIA with experience in a variety of positions that called for her to work in Switzerland, the Caribbean and various regions of the U.S. Krista and her husband are the chef/owners of Curlyâ€™s, one of Buffaloâ€™s most reputable fine dining establishments. Curlyâ€™s utilizes the Van Wagnersâ€™ passion for Caribbean food and their classical French training to provide diners with a unique and delicious experience. Curlyâ€™s success has led to growth–an expansion which included the addition of a banquet center and private dining room. In addition to the restaurant business the couple manufactures a line of sauces/condiments for use in the wholesale/retail sector. Chef Van Wagner and her husband reside in WNY with their 3 children.

Challenging Frank Mercado
Executive Chef, The M&T Executive Dining Roomâ€“Buffalo, NY
A graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Frank Mercadoâ€™s lengthy resume includes some of Buffaloâ€™s best restaurantsâ€”Oliverâ€™s, Tsunami, and Siena among them. As Executive Chef for M&T Bankâ€™s private Executive Dining Room, every day he creates a new menu featuring the world’s freshest ingredients. When not running the scratch kitchen for one of Buffaloâ€™s most prestigious banks, he works shifts at both Torches and Sea Bar in order to keep his skills honed and his experiences varied.

This Week’s Judges:

John Bourdageâ€¨
Consultantâ€”Buffalo, NY
â€¨John Bourdage, of Bourdage Consulting, provides consultation on the improvement of interpersonal relationships through a renewed understanding of service and social skills. As a graduate of Ivor Spencer School for Butler Administration, Bourdage received training in manners, etiquette, food and wines, entertaining, and the fine arts.

Mary Ann Giordanno
â€¨Executive Chef and Season Three Winner, Creekviewâ€”Buffalo, NYâ€¨
Mary Ann Giordanno describes her cuisine as â€œAmerican fusion,â€ drawing from Mediterranean, Italian, European, and Asian influences. With more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry, she has been the Executive Chef at Williamsville’s Creekview Restaurant since 1997. As a chef instructor at Auburn Watson Culinary School, Giordanno shares the passion for cooking she learned from a childhood she describes as being â€œsurrounded by food and life in the kitchen.â€

Nelson Starrâ€¨
Musician and Host, Buffalo. For Real TVâ€”Buffalo, NYâ€¨
Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductee Nelson Starr is best known as one of Buffaloâ€™s most influential musicians. Recently, Nelson has turned hisÂ keen acumen toward Buffaloâ€™s food scene,Â bringing celebrityÂ chef and Travel Channel star Anthony Bourdain to Buffalo and hosting Buffalo. For Real TV. Starr has dedicated himself to exploring and revealing WNYâ€™s most treasured cultural gems, hidden hangouts, and beloved pastimes, all with a dose of self-deprecatingÂ humor and naive charm.
About Nickel City Chef:

Nickel City Chef pits two chefs against one another in a culinary fete not unlike the popular television show Iron Chef America. At each event, one of our four Nickel City Chefs faces a qualified challenger in a race to complete three technically perfect, innovative dishes featuring the secret ingredient. Because of our dedication to New York, our secret ingredient is always an item that it grown or produced in Western New York.

A panel of qualified judges rates each chefâ€™s offerings using a scoring method that accounts for skill, flavor, appeal and creativity.Â This exciting and unique series takes place inside one of Buffaloâ€™s best kept secrets, a turn-of-the-century warehouse on Buffaloâ€™s emerging West Side. Formerly a wood-Â­burning stove company, Artisan Kitchens & Baths is Western New Yorkâ€™s premiere appliance retailer. Its second floor is a loft showroom completely outfitted with side-by-Â­side $100,000 competitionâ€‘worthy kitchens.

The 200 attendees at each event watch the battle unfold live while sampling catered snacks.Â The audienceâ€™s ability to enjoy the event is enhanced by the 10 flat screen panel televisions that hang throughout the location providing close-ups of both chefsâ€™ stoves, work spaces and plating areas. Extra points are awarded to the chef that earns the respect of the audience.

Nickel City Chef’s production company, Feed Your Soul, has been hard at work lining up secret ingredients, special guest judges and challengers for our fourth season of cooking competitions which will feature celebrity judges, WNY’s top chefs, and homegrown ingredients.

Taking place in the stunning loft showroom of Buffalo’s Artisan Kitchens & Baths, Season Four’s schedule of dates is listed below. Tickets for the 2012 season go on sale at noon Friday, January 6th. Tickets are $38 each and include catered gourmet snacks and access to a cash bar during the event. We do not recommend this event for children under 16.

Below we have noted the 2012 schedule, as well as Nickel City Chef’s Mission Statement. Please contact us if you are in need of hi-resolution photos or video footage. Each show is hosted by WBFO’s Bert Gambini and Buffalo’s top chef, Chef Mike Andrzejewski of Sea Bar.

Feed Your Soul is proud to present Western New York with its fourth season of Nickel City Chef, a unique and entertaining event designed to expose the general public to some of our area’s top chefs and farmers.

Nickel City Chef is as much about Western New York as it is about cooking. We are privileged to live in an area with a rich history enhanced by hearty ethnic foods and one of America’s greatest contributions to casual cuisine—the chicken wing. And, while these culinary icons are as important to Buffalo as professional sports teams and world-class architecture, in culinary terms, they are not all that we have to offer. In kitchens all over the city chefs with technical skills, adventurous natures, and pristine palates are preparing well-composed plates that would dizzy even the harshest critic. Nickel City Chef is designed to provide an arena in which these talented individuals can showcase dishes that may be too daring or complicated to warrant a permanent position on a dinner menu.

Anyone who spends time in Buffalo quickly realizes that our region is unique. Independently-owned restaurants appear at nearly every turn in our city, but many of our most dedicated foodies are unfamiliar with the breathtaking bounty that grows mere miles from our doorsteps. With over 1,300 farms in Erie County and more than 6,000 others in our region’s other counties, we are a notable contributor to New York States’s well-established annual yield of apples and milk. But what you may find surprising is that we also have farmers who grow a wide variety of premium crops. Produce such as mushrooms, artichokes, kiwi fruit, and dozens of varieties of garlic and heirloom tomatoes aren’t unheard of in these parts. Still others raise unique breeds of hogs and cows, collect honey, or make artisanal cheeses. By committing to using a locally raised or produced item as our secret ingredient in every challenge, Nickel City Chef hopes to enlighten and encourage pride in our region’s fantastic agricultural abilities.

Investing your hard-earned food dollars in Western New York, whether it is at locally owned restaurant or in your local supermarket’s produce section, has a positive, long-term impact on our regional economy. Did you know that spending your money with a locally-owned restaurant keeps 3x more money, here, circulating in Western New York than it does when you eat at a chain? Additionally, locally owned businesses typically reinvest in the local economy at a 60% higher rate than a chain.

About Feed Your Soul

Feed Your Soul is a company dedicated to developing and executing both private and public events focused on the food and agriculture of Western New York. Feed Your Soul was founded by food editor Christa Glennie Seychew, whose firm belief that agritourism and culinary tourism should not only be a major aspect of traveling in WNY, but are a fundamental component to Buffalo’s renaissance. Nickel City Chef is only one of Feed Your Soul’s projects, see the Feed Your Soul website for a closer look at this homegrown WNyY business (www.eatlocalbuffalo.com).